Atletico Madrid defender Gimenez dislocates toe in Eibar win

Jose Gimenez dislocated a toe in Saturday’s 1-0 LaLiga win at Eibar, Atletico Madrid have confirmed.

Thomas Lemar struck late at Ipurua to move Atleti within six points of leaders Barcelona.

But the victory came at a cost for Diego Simeone’s side as Gimenez was injured during the game.

Atleti confirmed in a medical statement the Uruguay international sustained the problem in the first half.

“The dislocation decreased as the game progressed and our defender was able to finish the game,” the club said. “Radiological tests will be carried out in the next few hours to rule out bone damage.”

Atletico, now seven points clear of city rivals Real Madrid, return to action at home to Europa League semi-finalists Valencia on Wednesday.

Lemar came off the bench to earn three points for @atletienglish! #EibarAtleti pic.twitter.com/slT1MyDK1W

— LaLiga (@LaLigaEN) April 20, 2019

Barca can restore their lead from Atleti by winning at home to Real Sociedad, but Simeone is not giving up on the title race yet.

“Eibar compete very well, they’re very dangerous,” Simeone said after his side’s fourth win in their past five LaLiga games. “We will continue doing our job and fighting until the end.

“We started the game better and then they improved and were comfortable until the break. The second half was the opposite.

“We moved players around to see how we could hurt them with Lemar, Koke, Thomas [Partey]. In a good play we managed to find the goal through Lemar, which will be good for him.”